Last August the world rejoiced at the liberation of a man who, to all intents and purposes, had vanished from its face more than four years previously. A pale and gaunt Brian Keenan emerged from a captivity of appalling deprivation and isolation after being kidnapped in Beirut by Islamic extremists.

This week on Desert Island Discs, he will be talking to Sue Lawley about those lost years, when, often blindfolded, chained and alone, he relived his life, conjuring up forgotten sights and sounds through imagined magical music, or by singing half-remembered lines from songs with John McCarthy when they were allowed to share their captivity.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Dweller On The Threshold by Van Morrison
Book: The Life Times and Music of An Irish Harper by Donal O'Sullivan
Luxury: Pencil